Small Business Computer Consulting

Narrowing down leads to uncover prospects can be a difficult task in the computer consulting industry.  Finding your industry focus is an important first step that can help you identify the right market.  In order to target clients you have to stand out from the rest of the computer consulting professionals trying to use the exact advertising to sell the same services.

You can also narrow down your leads and turn more into prospects by focusing on size.  

Computer Consulting:  Three Different Sizes

Micro small businesses with just a handful of PCs are a good place to start in computer consulting.  The mindset of the business owner is more important than the number of PCs he has, but micro-small businesses are not typically looking for very high-level, expensive IT computer consulting services.

The sweet spot small businesses are the next step up, and where most computer consulting professionals do very well. Small business computer consulting involves ten to fifty PC’s.  Many studies have proven that the two-to-one ratio works across industries, so if you are maxing out at a 50-seat LAN, this often means a 90-100-employee company.  Downtime for the sweet spot is very expensive.  To determine downtime expenses, divide by 250 business days a year and eight hours a day and give them the example of how a company doing $4 million a year in annual revenue with 2,000 business hours a year loses about $2,000 per hour when there is downtime.  As a computer consulting professional, you can save them money and time over the long-term.

More than 50 PCs gives you the top of the small business world and the bottom of the medium-sized business world.  At this size, the IT services bills from your company would be similar to a full-time salary for an in-house real IT manager.  This type of business will probably not outsource generalist roles and will most likely hire an on-site person and therefore is not as strong a lead as some of the smaller businesses.  

Added By:   Joshua Feinberg

Recent news for IT consultants is that the revenues obtained through the sale of security software increased by 15 percent in 2005.  Market researchers claim that this percentage increase was motivated by developments within the antivirus market.

In 2004, the revenues were $6.4 billion, whereas last year they rose to $7.4 billion.  Antivirus software purchased by IT consultants and business owners on its own produced a revenue of $4 billion, which was 54.3 percent of the total.

Organizations continued to spend money on security in 2005 and analysts expect that the industry will grow significantly in the next few years as IT consultants help businesses comply with government and other regulations.

The security field was led by Symantec last year, and the company was responsible for over 32 percent of the revenue globally in 2005.  Similarly, the company was responsible for about 54 percent of sales in the antivirus sector.  McAfee was next in line with a market share of 12 percent, followed distantly by Trend Micro at 8.5 percent, CA at 6 percent and IBM at 4 percent.  The security field continues to be a hot market for IT consultants. 

Blogged By:  Computer Consulting 101

The seasonal concept is one that many IT consultants fail to consider when making business plans.  It is often easy to relate the seasonal concept to product sales, but services are often not considered part of the seasonal cycle. 

Make sure you are aware of how the seasonal concept affects your selling trends.Here are some considerations you need to be aware of.

• The general rule regarding the seasonal concept is don’t expect anyone to make a major buying decision for a small business IT project in the late summer or during the holidays, unless it’s an emergency of course.

• As a general rule, and in the US especially, don’t expect any major decisions to be made from early July, around the 4th, until Labor Day in early September.

• If you have a stack of hot leads and prospects and proposals that you’ve cranked out, you should be following up very heavily in April, May and June.  The seasonal concept dictates that when July 1st rolls around, it’s going to be a pretty quiet time for those next eight weeks or so.

• For the ten to fourteen weeks in the fall season, early September until mid to late November, you should hit the pavement hard.  Follow up on all the leads you have, get out on as many sales calls as possible, generate as many proposals as possible, and try to get commitments for the big projects.

• Once November 15th to 25th rolls around, unless it’s an emergency or a really hot issue, it’s tough to get people to commit to major things until after the first of the year. When you’re dealing with the seasonal concept you’ll get responses like, “That sounds great. Let’s talk about it in the new year."

• Always build a financial reserve so when lulls related to the seasonal concept come around, you won’t get caught unable to pay your bills. Always make sure you have adequate capital in the bank for the inevitable dry spells.

Bottom Line on the Seasonal Concept
The seasonal concept of selling will affect you as an IT service provider.  Don’t risk being caught unaware.  Plan for the sales fluctuations associated with the seasonal concept and you’ll be able to withstand the business lows that go with it.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to the Seasonal Concept. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about the Seasonal Concept, just click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.

Project proposals are a common method for generating business.  Project proposals are typically prepared for two scenarios – getting a completely new client or doing more involved work for an existing customer.

Preferably you are doing a project proposal after you have done a small project for the company already.  This way you have gone through your proving ground.   Whether you did an IT audit or fixed a PC, you have a foundation there.  The customer knows you, likes you, and trusts you.  

Selling a project proposal from this position is much easier.  This doesn’t mean you can’t sell a project proposal without having done any previous work, it’s just a bit harder. You’ll end up spending much more time in the follow-up stage.

Either way, follow-up is an important aspect of securing work from a project proposal.  At the absolute minimum you should use a four to six week follow up cycle.  In between your follow up calls is when you look to see if anything has changed or if they need some help on something small right now before they move ahead with the project.  

You want to keep staying in front of them.  Even if it’s something that’s just a couple hundred dollars, your name needs to remain in their minds.  What you don’t want is for some other company to come in and take care of a small issue.  

When you have a project proposal under review, you need to be the company of choice for anything IT related.  There’s always a little bit of "being in the right place at the right time" going on.  

Bottom Line on Project Proposals
Urgency is the driver behind any project proposal moving to the sales phase.  If there’s no urgency, then it’s a waiting game and they may not do the project for a long time.  You need to stay in touch with the customer on a regular basis and be prepared to do a couple of small things in the interim to get things going.  

In this article, you’ve been introduced to Project Proposals. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Project Proposals, just click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business. 

Computer service contracts that sell blocks of time must be supported by a solid tracking system.  Once you sell a time-block computer service contract it is up to you to manage the contract and make sure the time is being used up on a consistent basis.

The tracking system you use for this type of computer service contract can be in QuickBooks, Excel, or another similar type of program.  The essential factor is that you have a tickler file so you can see where the client is in terms of the usage of the time.    

When the client is getting near the end of their prepaid time block, the system should be set up to advise you that you need to send a renewal notice. Tracking your computer service contracts like this does not need to be complicated, it just needs to be efficient.  

When it is renewal time, this is when you have the opportunity to turn a one-shot customer into a client.  Don’t underestimate the salesmanship needed for the first time-blocked computer service contract renewal.  They are not truly a client until they have renewed at least once.

To increase your chances of a computer service contract renewal:

• Make sure the customer uses up the time block in the original computer service contract
• Make sure you deliver on every aspect of your agreement

When you go to the renewal meeting:

• Make sure you have your time-block computer service contract ready to go again  
• Always have a rate card on hand and any marketing collateral you have prepared including testimonials
• Always think of the benefits of renewing the computer service contract from the clients’ point of view
• Point out the benefits of a year long contract to those clients that use up significant amounts of time per month

Bottom Line on Time-Block Computer Service Contracts
Your computer service contracts for pre-paid time are important to your business.  You need to be very diligent in your methods for tracking the usage of them and for renewing them.  The renewal phase is very important as this is where you move a customer into a client.  Don’t let any of these computer service contracts fall by the wayside – keep on top of them until you are sure you have a long term client.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to Computer Service Contracts. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Computer Service Contracts, just click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business. 

Computer service contracts are what will sustain your company long-term.  They are also what will allow you to transition to a full time business with less risk.  You want to have quite a few computer service contracts signed, sealed, and delivered and in progress.  This way you know there’s a certain amount of guaranteed, or virtually guaranteed, income every month from clients that have stepped up to the plate and said, "I want you to be my virtual IT department."

Benefits Of Computer Service Contracts 

• Computer service contracts give you a lot more confidence to grow your business as you reach the next hurdle six months to a year down the road.
• Computer service contracts also help you prioritize who really deserves your attention and who deserves your most premium, first class service and response time.
• Computer service contracts give you important reference accounts.
• Computer service contracts provide tremendous lifetime value in terms of predictability.
• Computer service contracts only prescribe a minimum payment.

This last benefit is an important one.  For the most part, people that are willing to commit to $1,000 a month minimum are typically going to do much more work than that every month. How much they spend over and above the computer service contract depends on what types of projects are in their pipeline.  This is why keeping their project wish list and their project plans current is so helpful   The $1,000 per month service contract increases very quickly with projects such as:

• Upgrading PCs and notebooks
• Upgrading an industry-specific package
• Helping with web site updates
• Internet and extranet issues
• DBI
• Setting up remote workers
• Setting up new offices

Bottom Line on Computer Service Contracts
Computer service contracts are just the beginning in terms of work for your client companies.  There are so many things that will come up in the course of being their virtual IT department.  By being proactive and maintaining the project plan, helping them organize   what they want, and scheduling the phases, you increase the lifetime value of the computer service contract significantly.  Long term client acquisition is your goal if you want to maintain a profitable and stable business.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to Computer Service Contracts. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Computer Service Contracts, just click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business. 

Overcoming objections to performing an IT audit is sometimes tricky.  When you are overcoming objections that deal with price, one of the best things you can do is let your past clients speak for you. Testimonials and references are two excellent ways for overcoming objections and we some more ideas for you as well.

Testimonials and Overcoming Objections
One of the best things you can do to overcome price objection is to share testimonials from well-known businesses in the local area.  If the testimonials talk about the value of the IT audit, even better.  For example, solicit a case study from a client that talks about how he/she used your recommendations over a period of a couple of months to cut their payroll costs, increase their sales without adding staff, close out their monthly accounting cycle faster each month.  

Regardless of the example, if you can tie some concrete benefits that other businesses have enjoyed to the  results of things you uncovered in an audit, that can be a phenomenal method for overcoming objections.

Other techniques for overcoming objections include: 

• Encourage your prospects to spend a few minutes and call some of your reference accounts.  Your current accounts can be some of your best salespeople. 

• Sell the IT audit on a fixed-price basis, certainly not by the hour.  Using this method for overcoming objections you lessen the company’s price risk because they are not concerned that the meter is running every minute.  

• Offer to apply the cost of the audit to any subsequent work that you do for them.  That work can be an installation , upgrade, or some kind of project or service agreement.  Make sure your offer is time limited.

The Bottom Line on Overcoming Objection
Overcoming objections that surround price are best handled by letting past clients make the sale for you.  When a  new contact hears the success other businesses have had with your IT audits, there is much less resistance.  Use these and the other ideas the next time you are faced with overcoming objection.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to overcoming objection. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about overcoming objection, just click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business. 

IT audits are a source of revenue for your systems integration business.  They are sometimes perceived as a tough sell but there are two distinct situations where selling an IT audit works very well.

The first really important time to offer an IT audit is when a prospect is looking for a new vendor. Often this happens if they want to replace their incumbent technology provider or replace a vacancy.  You can get in to do an IT audit very effectively in these circumstances because the company may have had a falling out with someone or someone left them high and dry. 

At this stage of the game, your prospect has no idea what he/she has or what he/she needs.  An IT audit will accomplish both goals.  Because they have had a provider taking care of their IT needs, they are likely clueless about what they even own, let alone what they need. 

You offer an IT audit in order to start fresh and figure out the best approach to take in order to accomplish their IT goals.  You know they are willing to pay for IT service, so suggesting an IT audit is a natural extension of the services you offer. 

The second time you’re in a really good position to sell the IT audit, is when you just finished handling an emergency crisis.  Essentially you put a band-aid on the problem and saved the day.  Your new customer thinks you’re wonderful and they have proven their interest in professional IT service as well as their ability/willingness to pay.  

In order for you to figure out a long-term solution, and avoid future band aids, you suggest doing a complete IT audit.  The suggestions make perfect sense and the client will be in a great position to want to do anything proactive – regardless of cost.  An IT audit is just the proactive tool you need to offer.

The Bottom Line on IT Audits
IT audits are an easy sell when you suggest them in the right context.  When people are looking to replace a provider or when they have just emerged from an emergency they are in a place where they are indicating their willingness to pay for an IT audit. This is the time to sell the IT audit and establish yourself as their systems expert because now you know what it is they want and need.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to IT audits. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge of IT audits, just click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business. 

IT audits are a must-do in your network consulting business.  If you don’t make IT audits part of your paid services, clients will have you spend your precious time analyzing their system for free.  

Typically a client will want you to tell them up front, specifically what you plan to do for them before you get their business.  In other words, before any money has changed hands, you’ll have had to learn about their unique IT environment.  

This is what an IT audit is meant to do.  Rather than give it away for free you need to learn how to get clients to pay for it.  The sorts of tasks included in an IT audit include:

• writing proposals
• site survey work
• taking inventory
• analyzing existing configurations
• looking for inconsistencies
• identifying major security gaps
• looking for potential land mines and configuration mistakes
• prioritizing what needs to be done first, second, third. etc…  

The easiest way to sell IT audits is to come to the relationship with a position of power. This means having prospects contact you rather than you soliciting them.  It’s hard to sell a client on an IT audit if you sent them a direct mail postcard asking for their business.  

You need to keep this in mind as you move your business forward.  If you want to get paid for the time you spend doing an IT audit, then you need to focus on referrals and networking.  Getting your name known and having clients recommend your services makes it much easier for you tell a client that they must pay you for the IT audit part of the process.

The Bottom Line on IT Audits
IT audits are time consuming.  You don’t want to have to give them away as part of your client solicitation process.  The best way to avoid having to give away free IT audits is to concentrate on getting great word-of-mouth referrals.  When potential clients come to you, it is much easier to tell them that a paid audit is the first step.  Once you know what they want and need then you can proceed.  

In this article, you’ve been introduced to IT audits. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge of IT audits, just click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business. 

A salesperson is not a good idea early on.  This is a question that many computer services businesses have.  The best advice I have is that it is generally a very, very bad idea to hire a salesperson when you are just getting established.  

Early on, your focus needs to be on establishing the identity of your business.  Bringing a salesperson into the mix will take your attention away from your core business.  When you have a salesperson you have to be concerned with human resource issues as well as business development.  

Instead of establishing account ownership and controlling those accounts, you’re monitoring someone else’s work, motivating them, training them, etc… You need to be training your prospects and clients as well as yourself – not a salesperson.  

In computer services you are your business.  An outside salesperson will not be able to get across your unique talents and abilities.  This is a people business, and your clients are buying you – not the router or the software license.  

An added complication when hiring a salesperson is the issue of account ownership.  Despite having non disclosure agreements, non competes, and others like them, a salesperson can claim legal entitlement to your accounts.  The nasty protracted battle that can ensue will absolutely kill your business. If an outside salesperson recruits 90% of your client base in the first year that is simply too much leverage to give another person.   

Bottom Line on Hiring A Salesperson
As your business expands you will have plenty of room to hire a salesperson.  During the first three to six month at least, a salesperson is more a liability than an asset.  Aside from the time and energy you will spend on the salesperson, you might encounter legal issues with an outside salesperson as well.  Hiring a salesperson is a pretty risky move.  You’re much better off getting your initial roster of sweet spot clients yourself.  You will have a much more stable, long term business because of it.   

In this article, you’ve been introduced to hiring a salesperson. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about hiring a salesperson, just click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.